The end of a paradigm: is Zipf's law universal?

[Eugene Garfield]

The end of a paradigm: is Zipf's law universal?

Author(s): Benguigui, L (Benguigui, L.); Blumenfeld-Lieberthal, E (Blumenfeld-
Lieberthal, E.)

Source: JOURNAL OF GEOGRAPHICAL SYSTEMS  Volume: 13  Issue: 1  Special 
Issue: SI  Pages: 87-100  DOI: 10.1007/s10109-010-0132-6  Published: MAR 
2011  

Abstract: It is largely accepted among geographers and economists that the 
City Size Distribution (CSD) is well described by a power law, i.e., Zipf's law. 
This opinion is shared by this community in a manner it could be treated as a 
paradigm. In reality, however, Zipf's law is not always observed (even as an 
approximation), and we prefer to adopt a classification of the CSD into three 
classes. In this work, we present the characteristics of these classes and give 
some examples for them. We use the Israeli system of cities as an interesting 
case study in which the same ensemble of cities passes from one class to 
another. We relate this change to the urbanization process that occurred in 
Israel from the 1960s onwards.
Language: English
Document Type: Article

Author Keywords: Zipf's law; City size distribution; Urbanization process
KeyWords Plus: RANK-SIZE RULE; POWER-LAW; DISTRIBUTIONS; CITIES; CITY

Addresses: [Blumenfeld-Lieberthal, E] Tel Aviv Univ, David Azrieli Sch 
Architecture, Yolanda & David Katz Fac Arts, IL-69978 Tel Aviv, Israel
[Benguigui, L] Technion Israel Inst Technol, Inst Solid State, IL-32000 Haifa, 
Israel
[Benguigui, L] Technion Israel Inst Technol, Dept Phys, IL-32000 Haifa, Israel
Reprint Address: Blumenfeld-Lieberthal, E (reprint author), Tel Aviv Univ, David 
Azrieli Sch Architecture, Yolanda & David Katz Fac Arts, IL-69978 Tel Aviv, 
Israel

E-mail Address: efratbl at post.tau.ac.il
ISSN: 1435-5930
URL: http://www.springerlink.com/content/dq49036112u62763/